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BOSTON — Even though Jacoby Ellsbury left the Red Sox for their biggest rival in the New York Yankees, the veteran outfielder still has a deep appreciation for his former team and the city in which it plays.

Ellsbury returned to Boston on Tuesday for his first game at Fenway Park as an opposing player. Ellsbury certainly has moved on, but some moments from his Red Sox days, like last April’s Boston Marathon bombing, forever will stick with the Yankees’ new franchise cornerstone.

“It was scary. We just completed our game (on April 15, 2013) and we were getting ready to fly out. We had a police escort to the airport and they took off, so guys were wondering what was going on (and) we came back inside and saw everything that happened,” Ellsbury said Tuesday, one day after the first Boston Marathon since last year’s attack. “It was terrible what happened (last April), and as baseball players, we wanted to do everything we could to bring any kind of excitement, any type of entertainment, something for three hours away from what had happened, just to put a little positive in their day.

“The team came together (last season) and we wanted to win for the city of Boston and New England. We wanted to win for the fans. We wanted to just bring some life back.”

The Red Sox played a huge role in helping Boston heal in the aftermath of the Marathon tragedy. While Ellsbury might be booed now that he’s suiting up for the Red Sox’s enemy, no one on the 2013 World Series-winning squad will ever be forgotten.